Ferrari 'must be cleverer' to beat rivals

Fernando Alonso believes Ferrari has a lot of work to do in order to maximise its potential in Spain after struggling with downforce and tyres during Friday practice.

Alonso finished fourth in both sessions but was not fully comfortable behind the wheel of the car, and seemed to be fighting with his F14 T on several of his flying laps. The Ferrari's traction shortfall was clear to see and Alonso thinks the team may need to out-think its rivals this weekend to get the best result possible.

"There wasn't much grip on track today and in general, we struggled a bit more, which was down to a series of factors, including the track being less rubbered-in than usual," Alonso said. "On top of that, we have less aerodynamic downforce than in the past and also in my opinion, the tyre choice here is too conservative for this track.

"Now we face a lot of work to try and optimise the balance of the car and get the most out of it, even if the circumstances are not that favourable to us. We must be cleverer than the others in terms of making the changes we need and adapting to them in time for qualifying."

After a disappointing couple of races Kimi Raikkonen seemed to be closer to Alonso than he has been, and he was happy with Friday's sessions.

"We had a particularly busy time on track today, trying to do as many laps as possible to complete the planned programme over the two free practice sessions. In the morning, we tried various set-ups, alternating between two different rear wings, while in the second session, we concentrated on preparing for qualifying and the race and on analysing the behaviour of the two compounds Pirelli has brought here. This evening, we will carefully analyse all the data gathered, to decide which direction to go in.